Caia winced. “I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. I’m a grown woman with the right to make my own decisions. If I choose to support you, that is none of their business. Personally, I’m disappointed in them.”
“They’re entitled to their opinion.”
“Come on!” Jaeden hissed, throwing a meaningful glance toward Laila. “They’ve met her. They’ve met you. You both have Midnight blood. That isn’t telling them something?”
“You can’t just wipe out centuries of hate, Jae.”
She snorted. “Yeah, well, better you than me running this show because I would just lose my crap with the lot of them. How are you so calm, so patient?”
Caia laughed humorlessly. “I’m not. I’m just good at pretending otherwise.”
And it was the truth.
Now, as she sat with Lucien in his backyard, watching happily as Magnus asked Artemis to bless the mating between Jae and Ryder, she was uncomfortably aware of the discontent among the pack. Loyally, they had shown up for the mating, but many were avoiding Caia. She felt a little teary when the moon-colored glow lit up between her friends’ bound hands. They kissed each other passionately, and she felt herself leaning into Lucien. The pack cheered, and everyone stood to congratulate them.
Caia quickly got out of their way, edging closer and closer to the woods. As they dispersed, walking in little groups into the house where the festivities awaited—weird, strained ones, she was guessing—Caia looked longingly into the dark velvet of the forest.
“You want to run?” a hot breath whispered in her ear.
She grinned. “You have no idea how much.”
Lucien took her hand and pulled her into the trees. “Come on, then.”
A little while later, they lay tangled in one another’s arms, their clothes abandoned around them. Caia shivered as he stroked her hair, loving the sound of his heartbeat beneath her ear.
Why couldn’t this be her life? Why couldn’t it be this simple?
“You wish we had a proper ceremony?” Lucien asked her softly.
“No.”
He chuckled. “That was certainly adamant.”
“Can you imagine all that attention?” She shuddered. “No thank you.”
He shook with amusement. “You do realize that running a campaign for Head of the Daylights and actually being the Head of Daylights requires quite a bit of limelight?”
“That’s different. That’s necessary. I don’t need a ceremony with lots of people watching on to know that I belong with you.”
He squeezed her closer and pressed a loving kiss to her forehead. “Ah, querida. I feel the same.”
“Why do you call me that?” she whispered lazily, knowing this moment was a brief slice of sunshine in their murky little underworld. She swore she could feel him smiling into her forehead.
“My dad. That’s what he called my mom, and I remember how happy it made her.”
“I’m such an idiot,” she groaned.
He laughed. “Explain.”
“You called me that after the daemon attacked me. If I’d just opened my eyes a little, I would’ve known how you felt way back then.”
“You know now, that’s what matters.”
They lay there for a while longer, snuggled in the darkness.
“We should get back,” Lucien said reluctantly.
“I’m afraid to.”
“Why?”
“In case we never have a moment like this again.”
“Caia.” He pulled her up so he could kiss her tenderly. “I promise you that after the storm passes, there will be plenty of moments like this for us.”
Although averse to shimmying back into her strappy dress, Caia did so. Hand in hand, they walked back through the woods to their home.
Where another surprise awaited them.
Jaeden was waiting with Ryder in the backyard, their faces a perfect mirror of anxiety.
“What’s wrong?” Lucien picked up his pace.
Jaeden shook her head. “We’re not sure. Marion’s here.”
Caia’s heart leapt, and she rushed past them and into the house. She found Marion talking with Magnus, and Caia could tell immediately from her body language that something was wrong.
She must know.
“Caia!” Marion’s eyes lit up when she saw her. “Thank Gaia.”
Or not.
“What’s going on?” she asked in trepidation.
The magik took her by the wrist and led her all the way upstairs and into her old bedroom.
“Marion?”
“Caia, everything is a mess.” Marion pushed her hair back frantically. Caia had never seen her so uncollected before. “My sister found out that certain members of our Council have been feeding information to the Midnights! She can’t get a handle on all who were involved—they’ve combined their power to manipulate the trace … so she has dissolved them. The entire Council. The coven is in chaos. There were actual riots inside the Center!”
Marita had dissolved the Council because of her. Caia couldn’t believe it. How could this be happening? This couldn’t be happening.
She felt breathless and faint, all of her plans crumbling around her. Saffron had been right. She hadn’t been prepared for the lengths Marita would go, to remain in power and annihilate the Midnights.
“How …”
Marion shook her head. “She has witnesses from within the Council members’ households. This level of treachery is unthinkable. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”